Georgie Cartanza’s Guest Lecture

On Monday, September 9th, the agriculture class was greeted by Georgie Cartanza, a Delaware organic poultry farmer and extension agent. She provided us with interesting information regarding the poultry industry in the first state, by giving the class a presentation with a brief history of how chicken farming became popular in Delaware, and the conventional methods that are no longer used in modern-day agriculture. She also showed us the economical impact it has on the U.S. For example, there are 14,500 people employed under poultry companies in Delaware that produce 3.2 billion dollars in birds each year. It turns out for every 1 job in the poultry industry, 7 jobs are created within the local community! She debunked the myths of fake news, like use growth hormones and antibiotics. In reality, there are no growth hormones. Technology has just improved to yield more bodyweight on the broilers faster than how it would have been in the 1950s. Under the organic poultry company she works for, Georgie must provide the chickens with access to the outdoors as well as enrichment in the chicken houses. This is based on consumer demand and the newly implemented technologies that are meant to improve bird welfare. Lastly, we were shown a slide on sustainability in agriculture and how to be mature and successful through mindfulness of the information that is shared with us. I definitely am more aware of the state I live in and the positive impact the poultry industry has on my community!

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